Janek Sunber/Amanin - TLC - Comic Packs (Exclusive)

Lieutenant Janek Sunber faces jealous Imperial officers and fierce Amanin aliens on the jungle world of Maridun. Determined to make something of himself, Sunber joins the infantry, where his tactical skills draw everyone's notice. His commander rewards him with promotions and the Amanin honor his courage, but others respond with resentment and betrayal. There's no shortage of battles, bloodshed and bravery as everyone fights "To the Last Man."

The
Comic Packs line is a very important medium for all collectors.
Not only do they thrill lovers of the Expanded Universe,
they also give “movie only” collectors
a chance to get figures that might not otherwise make
it into the basic figure line. Enter the Janek Sunber/Amanin
set. Fans of the Original Trilogy were thrilled
with the announcement that Hasbro was going to revisit
the Amanin species in action figure form. And while
the version isn't meant to be based on the Star
Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi character
to a tee, it is still a solid action figure that blows
away the previous Amanin action figures we have received
thus far. It is truly a sight to behold. Amanin is
large and foreboding and he is a magnificent creature
that fits into any collection no matter its focus.
While this creature has some extra gear that the bounty
hunter from Episode VI didn’t, these extra pieces
looks like a natural progression to what this species
would indeed use in the wild (or at the very least
off screen). The comics portrayed them a truly predatory
reptilian-like species and they caused a good amount
of grief for the Galactic Empire. And Hasbro translated
the species beautifully with all-new tooling. It is
so nice to get an exclusive where the tooling is 100%
new for at least one of the figures in the set. It
clearly makes the pack worthwhile for collectors and
we are a hard group to please. Hasbro decided to give
Walmart another crack at a trio of Comic Packs. Although
the exclusive sets (from the 30 (77-07) line)
were less than impressive and very slow sellers, Walmart
certainly didn’t get the short end of the stick
this time around. This second set of exclusives worked
out much better because Hasbro decided to revisit the
way they tackled their exclusive Comic Packs by adding
much more value for the money while including new sculpts
or retools instead of just simple repaints.

Amanin
is a completely new figure with seven points of articulation,
although you may only see six distinct points. His
tail, however, is made of a rubbery substance that
contains a bendable wire and this is what we refer
to as the seventh point. Amanin is beautifully painted
from head to toe and his alternating stripes of green
on his back are perhaps the most stunning part on him.
Amanin is tall and towers over all members of the Imperial
army. He comes accessorized with a great big and tall
staff as well as a skull necklace. The necklace contains
the souvenirs from his victims and shows off the head-hunting
lifestyle of this lethal species. Amanin has amazingly
sculpted hands and they are huge (as they should be)
in comparison to his frame. The long figures are alarming
and his oversized arms and hands are such a striking
contrast from his rather proportionate legs and feet.
Amanin has been given such an incredible paint job.
There is a wealth of final washes to help accent all
of the details the sculptors included to give this
creature unprecedented realism. The Amanin has an almost
expression that warns of an impending strike. It is
actually mind-blowing how well this action figure was
designed. And we are thankful to Hasbro for all of
the attention they gave this action figure. Amanin
absolutely towers over the Amanaman figure from the
2001 POTJ Amanaman & Salacious Crumb Deluxe figure
set. It is a shame because the sculpt was pretty accurate
to the movie version of Amanaman (except for the scale
of course). But there is no denying that this Comic
Packs version of Amanin is the superior figure by far.
It is evident that Hasbro has really taken a lot into
consideration to get this scale just right. If we needed
to pick at anything, we would have wished for a few
more points of articulation (like elbow joints for
example). As a finishing touch, Amanin’s red
eyes are very absent looking and add to his chilling
demeanor and personality.

Janek
Sunber is a surprisingly great figure as well. He is
a little bit too pale, but he is made up of some fine
parts of previously released figures (as well as some
of his own new parts). He has an excellently painted
battle-damaged uniform, full of splatters of dirt and
various damages from war. His Imperial cap does look
a little bit too big for his head but it doesn't detract
that much from the overall presentation of the figure.
He can stand very well and he can hold his gun without
issue too. His one and only setback is his swivel elbows.
We would rather Hasbro not give us any elbow joints
that to include swivel joints in this portion of an
action figure’s body. It never seems to look
right in our opinion. We are not sure if the red on
his uniform is meant to be blood or not, but it looks
like he has seen more than his fare share of violence.
He didn’t come across as this dirty in the comics,
but we suppose Hasbro has modeled it accurately based
on their source materials. Janek Sunber uses the middle
section of 2006’s TSC Moff Jerjerrod (SAGA 040) and of course has new legs and a new head. The good
news is that the knees are now ball-jointed. This exclusive Comic Packs set will definitely be appreciated by Original
Trilogy collectors and well as all other collectors
too. This set is a nod to the characters contained
within the vintage line and these new Expanded Universe
action figures reinvent the “old” or “established” characters
that we have grown to love. And they are certainly
welcome into our collections. These exclusive Comic
Packs sets were shipped in very high numbers, but they
have also sold very well. We recommend finding a way
to get this set into your collections because it is
truly one of the better Comic Packs we have seen in
quite some time. If you pass on this set we can guarantee
that you will be very disappointed. This is one set
not to miss!